Constructed from triangle motifs that come together in a great starburst on the bodice, and wide ribbed band at the hem, it’s perfect to slip on over a bathing suit or pair with a cami and flirty, summer skirt.

Reading crochet charts can seem daunting to a crocheter that’s never used one before, but they’re not as scary as you might think. Crochet charts are a map of your stitches, they are a visual guide to the stitches you need to create.

The first thing to do is familiarize yourself with the standard crochet symbols, these are the symbols you’ll see in every charted design, no matter what language the written pattern is published in! The Craft Yarn Council has a great list of the most commonly used symbols on their site. You’ll notice that most of the symbols have a physical resemblance to their stitch counterparts.

As with anything new start simple and familiarize yourself with the process before tackling more complicated projects. Let’s walk through a small swatch in one of the most basic stitches, single crochet.

You’ll see that the charted pattern builds upwards from the foundation chain just like your swatch.

Each row begins with a number that tells you which row you are on and alternate rows change color to help you see which stitches are part of that row and to avoid confusion between rows.

When you compare the chart with the swatch you can see the tail from where you began the chain in the bottom left corner which corresponds to the “Start” symbol and the tail from where you fastened off in the upper left corner which corresponds to the “End” symbol.

Take your time and build your experience. The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs by Linda P. Schapper is a great resource for transitioning to using charts. Each stitch pattern includes an image of the pattern, the written version of the pattern as well as the chart.

Summer is in full swing and having a lightweight, portable project is ideal in the heat and humidity of the coming weeks. It’s also nice to have a few finished projects that you can use and wear in the warmer months. Crocheted mesh is a great fabric choice to fill both these needs!

The Michel Vest would look great paired with a bright tee and capris. Made from half double crochet and chain stitches and worked in a single piece to the armholes this one will fly off your hook. The Longmeadow is a fantastic blend of cotton and microfiber that is soft and cool against the skin.

The Tokyo Vest in Tahki Cotton Classic Lite, a free pattern, is a wonderful layering piece to toss on over a flirty summer dress in the evening. This top is made from 2 simple rectangles and is creatively seemed to create the illusion of a wrap top.

Finally, you’ll need something to carry all your summer finds, be they sea shells, fresh fruits and veggies from the Farmer’s Market, or treasures from a yard sale. Classic Elite has the perfect Market Bag pattern (also Free!) worked up on their Provence yarn.

Katie was working on these bibs when she realized she had a better solution for the closure. Putting a bib on a wiggly baby isn’t the easiest thing to do; you usually have to use two hands to snap the bib in place. For these, Katie decided to use Magnetic Tote Bag Closures instead! This is a fantastic idea. You can put the bib around the baby’s neck with one hand, and the magnets match up to each other with only a little help. This technique doesn’t have to be limited to bibs either. Almost any project needing a closure can use these magnetic closures instead of buttons or snaps.

For these bibs, Katie used Plymouth Jeannee Worsted. The pattern is Crochet Baby Bib by NeedleNoodles.

Of course, like any project using small parts, be sure to keep an eye on your little one when they’re wearing their bib!

Local and regional Fiber Fairs can be wonderful places to discover new yarns and Indie Dyers that you won’t find at Big Box stores, or your local yarn stores.

While the knitting world has embraced hand-dyed yarns crocheters seems to be a bit hesitant. I say go for it! Hand dyed yarns are perfect for crochet. Where knitters can sometimes run into issues of color pooling, with the short colors sections of these yarns, the very nature of crochet stitches takes advantage of these color changes.

There are plenty of wonderful patterns out there that would be perfect for a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind skein of yarn picked up at a fair. Mary Beth Temple’s Arches Cowl would be perfect as it can be worked till you run out of yarn. Sometimes you get lucky and find a hand-dyed bulky weight yarn; the Berme pattern from Berroco could help you turn that into a quick and perfect sweater.

And don’t forget socks, there are so many hand-dyed choices in sock yarn it can make your head spin, but it’s not just for socks. Linda Permann’s Stellar Beret and our own Iris Shawl can be made with sock weight yarns.

Heather runs the Craftlit podcast and site, and while reading A Tale of Two Cities, she was inspired to wonder what Madame Defarge WOULD knit? As the book idea began to take shape she wanted to make sure the designers not only got paid, but were able to actually recoup the costs of their time spent creating those designs, and to have the book printed in the US, so she worked with Cooperative Press to make it happen.

The books are divided into thematic sections related to classic literature and each pattern is accompanied by a wonderful essay. WWMDfK- the Shakespeare edition and a Mme Defarge goes Medieval edition are in the works.

Carol talks about her path from designer to editor of 2 major Crochet magazines and the insights she gained during that journey into the inner workings of bringing a magazine full of great patterns and useful knowledge to market, as well as how many people and just how much time it takes to do so.

They also discuss the resurgence of Tunisian crochet, the best yarns to crochet with and why knitters should try crochet.

The main body of the shawl is worked sideways from point to point with all the increases, and subsequent decreases, happening along the same side. You may want to place a marker, every couple rows, on the side with all of your increases. It can be easy to loose track of which side that is when your work is just a few, short rows and it will remind you what side the decreases will happen on when you get to them! You can also keep a small notebook handy and tick off each increase/decrease row as it’s made.

It’s the last week National Crochet Month and we’ve been so happy to share some of our favorite crochet techniques and trends. This week’s focus is on shawls.

You can play it simple or really complicated with shawls, stick with a beloved stitch pattern and an easy rectangle shape or change it up with crescent shaping and bunch of different, but related, stitches to create something really beautiful and fun.

The Pin Cushion Moss Shawl, made with Southwick, is a simple triangle that grows outward from the center back so you could just keep working the pattern until it is the size you desire.

The Daisy Wrap from Blue Sky Alpacas is a simple rectangle shape with undulating rows of soft waves and floral clusters. Crocheted in Blue Sky’s Metalico, you’ve got a great palette of neutrals to work with.